Those who crave caviar no longer have to go wild

By Emily Schwab, Globe Correspondent | December 29, 2004

Caviar has been the ultimate in luxurious eating since the
1400s. Rabelais, an influential French writer of the time, proclaimed
caviar the finest in hors d’oeuvres. Russian nobility no doubt dined
on the sturgeon eggs, since most of the sturgeon whose roe was used
live in the Caspian and Black seas. As a result, finicky diners will
insist on eating only the eggs from Caspian Sea sturgeon. But, much to
their dismay, eggs from North Pacific salmon and North American
sturgeon are also referred to as caviar.

Regardless of provenance, these salted fish eggs are served — in
their purest form — on a bed of ice and scooped right from the tin
with a tiny, nonmetallic spoon onto a toast point or blini (a
miniature buckwheat pancake). Often the spoons are made of ivory or
bone, both more time-consuming to craft than metal and therefore just
as luxurious as the fish roe. This accouterment just adds to caviar’s
elite image, and so does its association with Champagne. When it’s
time to celebrate, pop the corks and pass the caviar.

Most of the celebratory caviar this year, however, will not come from
the Caspian Sea. In the past year, the giants of the caviar
importation business in this country have by and large made the switch
to — gasp — farm-raised caviar or no caviar at all. Many caviar
lovers are turning to the farm-raised Sterling caviar from California,
as environmental conditions and overfishing threaten the Northern
Caspian, which is controlled by the former Soviet Union. Some caviar
importers will still use fish eggs from the southern,
Iranian-controlled areas, which tend to have fewer problems with
keeping the fish healthy and populated. Recently, Norwood-based
Boyajian Inc. stopped selling caviar entirely; because of the “severe
depletion of the sturgeon population and natural habitat,” reads their
website, they are withdrawing from the industry until conditions
improve in the Caspian.

Sterling Caviar has been raising American white sturgeon on its Stolt
Sea Farm in California for more than 15 years. Some areas of the
country carry both wild and farm-raised Sterling caviar (the
farm-raised costs $50 for one ounce or $90 for two at Whole
Foods). Farm-raised caviar is comparable to wild varieties; Sterling’s
Royal caviar is described as having a flavor similar to the osetra
caviar of the Caspian Sea. As for serving, true caviar lovers eat it
straight up — that is, without chopped onion, eggs, lemon juice, or
sour cream.

David Pilat of Ocean Trust, an ocean-conservation foundation, says
that although some consumers will always be wild-caviar purists,
others will buy more caviar if they know their fish eggs are
farm-raised and therefore sustainable. The savvy connoisseur can now
entertain guilt-free.